


One

by Arkham_Inmate_A143



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Abuse mentioned, Emotional Manipulation, Enhanced, Explicit Language, F/M, Gen, Homophobic Language, Multi, Other, Science Experiment, Violence, naive OFC, one - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-08-23 19:10:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20247877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkham_Inmate_A143/pseuds/Arkham_Inmate_A143
Summary: She saw the sun for the first time when she was sixteen, and basked in the sunshine on her skin. He saw her for the first time when he was seventeen, and he just knew that she would be his sunshine.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

She was sixteen when she saw the sun for the first time. She thinks she was. Age was a fuzzy topic, but sixteen was the general consensus. Before that it was a basement laboratory and a world with no sun, and she really didn’t like talking about it. No one knows how she made it back from the world with no sun. The only help she could provide was that she had been sleeping in her makeshift home, a science classroom in the school, and woke up in a world with a bright colors, over powering smells, in a world where she wasn’t alone anymore.  
The boys she had woken up to, in the mixture of mourning the loss of a new friend, the confusion over her, and the excitement over an old friend returned to them, tried to convince a boy named Steve to take her in for a while, at least until his parents returned.  
He was a few years older than the boys, had fluffy hair and carried a bat embedded with nails when she met him.  
“What’s her name?” Steve sighed, using the bat to gesture to the girl.  
The Party blanked at that, and after shared looks and a silent argument, Mike finally answered, “Karen?”  
“Dude, that’s your mom’s name,” Lucas sighed, slapping a hand to his forehead.  
“You don’t know? Great, you want me to take a girl from the same place as those monsters to my house and you don’t even know her name.” Steve nodded, “That’s fantastic, really. What’s your name?”  
He was asking her directly; she was glad, she preferred speaking for herself. “They never told me, wasn’t important to them.”  
“Okay, ‘they’ had to call you something, right? What was it?”  
“One.”  
“Wait,” Dustin said, “One like Eleven?”  
“Minus ten,” One answered.  
“Do you have powers?” Dustin asked.  
“Show us the tattoo,” Mike demanded, “prove you’re telling the truth.”  
“Enough, you can interrogate her later, alright?” Steve asked. “My parents are going to be back on the 18th, got it? Figure out where she’s going by then.”  
The party had agreed, but she never left Steve’s. Over the course of five days the boys hadn’t managed to come up with a place for One to live, not that they had devoted a lot of time too finding one. They were preoccupied with Will’s return and the disappearance of Eleven.  
Mike’s sister Nancy proved to be of more help. Steve had called her after he had tried to help One clean up and discovered that she didn’t the even the basics of hygiene. She showed up at Steve’s place less than an hour later with everything she had raided from her family’s extras closet and donation box. It took a bath and two showers before Nancy had One clean and named: Luna. It was the only suggestion Nancy gave that One liked.  
Nancy pretended to not see Luna’s scars, and she didn’t mention them to Steve or Mike. If they were consequential, One would tell them.  
She was also the one to suggest that Luna stay with Steve indefinitely, that they claim Luna was a foreign exchange student the Harrington’s had signed up to host and had ultimately forgot about. It worked, miraculously, and Mrs. Harrington (“Debra, honey, please,”) finally had the daughter she had always wanted and Mr. Harrington had never given her.  
Debra and Mr. Harrington were gone a lot, they didn’t notice how long Luna was staying. Soon enough one school semester passed, and the summer was gone. Nancy helped Luna catch up to the junior year curriculum, surprised and jealous with the knowledge that she already possessed.  
“I learned how to read and write in the lab,” She explained, “The Upside Down had a lot of books, what the boards showed different things everyday. Wasn’t much to do down there besides fighting and studying.”  
Come the new school year Luna was registered and the newest student at Hawkin’s High School. Each day she walked the halls, loitered near those she was meant to be friends with, spent time with a bunch of children, and was bored out of her mind. There may have been little to do in the Upside Down, but she was never bored. To be bored was to be dead.  
On Thursday October 25 there was a change in Hawkins. One could feel it, and she was ready for it.  
On Tuesday October 30, One found out what.  
Billy Hargrove and his blue Camaro were the talk of the school. Luna was thoroughly disappointed, a new boy in her junior English and her junior anatomy classes was not the kind of change she was looking for.  
Tina’s party held promise though, if only for Halloween night. Luna’s stomach felt weird, butterflies was all she could think to equate it too; her first Halloween and her first social engagement all in one night. That’s if she could convince Steve to bring her.  
“I want to go,” One shoved the flyer from Tina in Steve’s face as she climbed on the picnic table in the courtyard and sat with her legs out in front of her and her ankles crossed. It was neon pink and gaudy, the color painful to Luna’s eyes. “Can I go?”  
“There’s going to be a lot of people there, and drinking,” Steve took the flyer and handed it to Nancy.  
“I gathered,” One nodded, “Parties are in books. Can I go?”  
“You don’t have a costume.”  
“So take me to get one.”  
“I don’t have time today, basketball practice.”  
“If you don’t want me to go, tell me,” Luna ordered. “I get it, you don’t want to babysit the freaky lab experiment at a party. You want to drink, and have fun with your girlfriend, not be forced to stay sober. It’s fine, just tell me.”  
“How?” Steve asked, falling forward and resting his forehead on her knee. “How do you know how to guilt trip so well?”  
“I’m an empath,” Luna ruffled his hair. Steve jerked back and swatted her hand away, fixing his signature feature. “Does that mean I can go?”  
“I don’t think I could stop you anyways,” Steve admitted, not bothering to hide the defeat in his tone. “I’ll take you to get a costume after practice, okay?”  
“Thank you!” Luna launched herself at Steve, wrapping her arms around his neck in a to tight hug and pushing him into a laughing Nancy. The commotion had drawn the attention of the those occupying the courtyard, most only looking a moment before turning back to their own friends to gossip, but one thought it funny to whistle.  
One released Steve from the hug, and turned to look for the culprit. It was Tommy H and the rest of his group, and new boy Billy. Most were laughing, some making faces and gestures that One didn’t understand, and Billy pretended to not be watching as he lit a cigarette, but One’s eyes locked on Tommy in a glare that cause goosebumps to cover his skin and the can of Coke in his hand. She tilted her head, twitched her right ring finger, and Tommy’s face was covered in his exploded can of soda.  
“So, after practice then? We go costume shopping?” Nancy asked.  
“You say that like I have a choice,” Steve sighed, “Wait, what about dinner with the Hollands?”  
“You’ll have time,” Luna assured.  
“Definitely,” Nancy agreed, “We’ll have time. What are you thinking for a costume?”  
“I’m leaning towards either Janet Weiss or Alex Delarge.”  
Nancy was aghast, “What kind of movies are you showing her?”  
“I don’t even know who those people are!” Steve defended, “Jonathan’s the one into all the freaky shit.”  
“He is in so much trouble,” Nancy stormed off from the table. Luna followed her lead and stood, standing on her the tips of her toes and stretching towards the sky.  
“Who are they?”  
“A psychopathic rapist and a repressed nymphomanic,” Luna answered, backing away from the table and turning into someone’s chest as tried to leave. She looked up, her eyes meeting his.  
Billy. What is it about Billy? She furrowed her brow and wet her lips with her tongue. There was something there, something in him that she could feel, something that she shared.  
She broke the stare and took off towards her locker, class was starting soon.


	2. Second Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, yeah, so there's more if anyones interested.

Jonathan wasn’t the one who introduced Luna to Rocky Horror Picture Show or A Clockwork Orange, it was a girl she shared maths and English with and had quickly befriended and was, as of yet, the only friend she had made beyond those who knew of the Upside Down.  
“You should come tonight,” Luna said, placing her bag down at her feet after extracting the novel, pen and notebook she needed for English that day. They were reading The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Works by Edgar Allen Poe, their teachers idea of celebrating Halloween. “be the Brad to my Janet. We can do the Time Warp, confuse everyone.”  
“I have no desire to go to one of Tina’s parties and be surrounded by my drunken classmates while they fornicate on any flat surface they can find.” Robin drawled, crossing her ankles in the middle of the aisle between desks, ignoring the looks and grumbles of those she made step over her legs as they attempted to reach their own desks. “And why Brad?”  
“Because Nancy wouldn’t let me go as Alex Delarge and we have to match.”  
“No we don’t, because I’m not going.” Robin declared, turning back around in her chair and facing the front of the room.  
Luna pouted, and leaned over her desk and wrapped Robin in a hug while resting her head on the dirty blonde’s shoulder. “Fine,” One relented, “But you have to make it up to me. Belated Halloween movie marathon this weekend? We can watch all the classics you swear are actually going to scare me.”  
“Deal,” Robin laughed, shoving One off her. One shifted her center of gravity, balancing on her elbows on her desk. “See the new kid staring at you?”  
“Billy?” Luna asked needlessly, “He’s been staring all morning. Guess I made an impression yesterday.”  
“How? Did you blow him in the bathroom or something?”  
One bit her lip, “What does that mean?”  
“I forget how sheltered you are sometimes.” Robin let her head fall back, and winked. “Maybe he likes how innocent you are. God, how fucking cliche is that?”  
“Very, I’m guessing.”  
“Want me to tell him to back off?”  
“No,” Luna said, looking back at Billy and meeting his stare. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle. One smiled, and Billy looked taken aback by the gesture. “There’s something about him, something familiar.”  
“I can’t believe you’re jumping on the Billy Hargrove train with the rest of the girls in this school.”  
“I just want to find out what it is,” Luna explained, sitting back in her seat as their teacher finally entered the room with an excuse on why he was late. 

~~~

The unintelligible chanting from outside drew One’s eyes from the dance floor to the front door. Tommy H entered on Billy’s coattails, dressed as the karate kid and chanting Billy’s name in celebration. Billy was in the same jeans from earlier but his shirt had been replaced with an open leather jacket and his chest was shining. Tommy followed each step Billy took, continuously chanting while Billy pretended he wasn’t there. They joined the dance floor for a moment, Billy’s eyes glazed as he pulled toilet paper from the ceiling fan, before they landed on One.  
She looked sweet, was all he could think to describe her as, white Mary Jane kitten heals, nude stockings leading to a soft pink dress belted above her waist with six buttons stopping in the middle of a Peter Pan collar. The dress had cap sleeves, and a white cardigan covering her arms and a newspaper clutched awkwardly in her left hand with a red plastic cup completed the costume. Every fiber of Billy’s being was being pulled over to One, he allotted it to the alcohol, he wouldn’t allow it to be anything else.  
Tommy followed, bragging to Steve about Billy’s accomplishment in becoming the new Keg King.   
“Impressive,” One hummed, sparing a place to Nancy as she went to find a drink. “Does the title come with any land, or is it more honorary?”  
“It comes with all of Hawkin’s High,” Tommy cut in, waiting until Steve was out of ear shot as he followed Nancy. “What’s your deal with Harrington? I mean, you’re having sex right? You’re living in his house.”  
“Why are you so concerned about who Steve’s having sex with? Are you jealous?” One asked, “I thought you and Carol were dating, or maybe you aren’t jealous of Steve, but of the girls he’s with. Do you like Steve?” One asked, a hand covering her heart, “That’s so sweet, unfortunately I don’t think you’re his type. But it’s okay, broken hearts always heal. It was nice speaking to you, its a shame you’re going home so early. See you at school tomorrow, goodbye!”  
Tommy’s eyes had hazed over, he shook his head to clear his mind and clasped Billy on the shoulder. “I’m going to head out, see you tomorrow.”  
“Should have known he was a fag—”  
“No.” One covered his mouth with her palm, her skin smelled like Starburst and fruit punch. “I don’t like that word,” She told him, “Or the hate that comes with it. No one should he thought different of for the people they love. It’s stupid.”  
“Fine, sorry,” Billy apologized, One’s eyes flicking to him before returning to the dance floor. He needed a cigarette, or a drink. Drink was easier, he stole a plastic cup from a passing person and downed it in one. It was some alcoholic concoction and it burned his throat going down.  
“Why do you stare?”  
“What?” He choked. The drink wasn’t enough, he needed a cigarette. Unfortunately, he discovered pulling the beaten up pack from his jacket pocket, he was out. When did he finish them? He couldn’t remember.  
“You stared, all throughout today. Why?”  
“Why are you staring at everyone dancing?”   
“I’m not,” Her eyes flickered over his face and back to the floor. There was a little smile on her face, one she tried to hide by keeping her lips pressed together but Billy saw it, and though it was cute. “I’m observing.”  
“How do you know that wasn’t what I was doing today? Observing you,” Billy challenged.  
“You learn when you observe, you don’t when you stare. What did you learn?”  
Billy nodded, “You’re going to make me prove myself, are you? Fine, that’s fair: you’re smart, didn’t pay any attention to the teachers but I saw the test Grant passed back and you got a 92. You’re friends with that girl who sits in front of you in Clary’s class. And you’re wearing purple underwear.”  
He achieved his goal, all of Luna’s attention turned to Billy. She tried to get out a sentence, she started four separate times that died on her tongue. She was more surprised he had managed to leave her speechless then that he saw her panties, but if he had seen her panties there was a good chance he saw the beginnings of the scar stretching from the top of her left thigh to the crease of her knee. She needed to be more careful, she didn’t want anyone to see her scars. They didn’t need to know what she went through, they pitied her enough and if they did anymore she would scream, and when she screamed, the world around her broke.  
“Careful when you lean forward in your desk in a short skirt,” Billy cautioned, leaning in to whisper in One’s ear, “they’re pretty though.”   
“Thanks,” One handed her cup and newspaper to Billy and pressed her hands to her cheeks. They were warm, and her heart felt weird, this must be embarrassment. There was no pity in his eyes, no curiosity, just mischief. Maybe he hadn’t seen her scar? “Is this something I should be embarrassed over?”  
“Most girls would be,”  
“I don’t think I am? Not over someone seeing them, at least, I don’t care about that part, but why do I care that you specifically saw them?”  
“Must mean you like me,” Billy suggested, licking his bottom lip as One shook her head.  
“I don’t think it does,” One decided, not wanting to like anyone in the way she was sure he was implying. She wasn’t ready for a romantic relationship. So she played it off, “I do hope no one else saw, though. I don’t want another modesty lecture from Nancy.”  
“I’ll handle anyone who says anything,” Billy promised. They fell silent, One’s attention seemingly flouncing from one person on the floor to the next as she took in their dancing, Billy’s on the girl next to as he looked for something to say. He liked her voice, he wanted to hear more it. He wanted to hear it in conversation, in annoyance, in anger, in happiness, in pleasure, he wanted to hear it no matter the context. God, he hadn’t even fucked this girl yet and he was already whipped. What was she doing to him? He wanted her, and he decided he’d deal with the rest once he had her.  
“Dance with me,” One ordered, taking Billy’s hand and trying to pull him with her, ignoring the vaguely threatening tone of his promise. Her abruptness had shocked him, but he was quick to recover and used her momentum against her, dropping her cup and newspaper and pulling her into his chest. He caged her in with his arms around her waist.   
“Time to put what you learned into practice?”  
“Time for an actual instructor,” One corrected, taking steps backwards and Billy, having no desire to stop touching her, followed.  
“And that’s me?”  
“Be my instructor and I’ll be your partner on the next anatomy project,” Luna bartered.  
“Your bargain is to trade something now for something that might never happen?”  
“Do you trust me?”  
“I don’t know you.”  
“I have a trustworthy face. Deal?” Billy stayed focused on Luna as he helped her get into the rhythm, spinning and twisting and dipping and pulling her as close as she would allow, turning his back to any girl who tried to cut in or any guy that tried to ask for the next dance.   
But then something happened, Billy watched as she turned as immobile as stone mid-twirl, the smile on her face falling as her eyes darted from face to face as she looked for someone. Her gaze settled on Steve, following as he stormed out, shoving his sunglasses on his face to cover his swelling eyes.  
“I gotta go,” She said, no longer mentally there. He was a beat behind following Luna out the door, and by the time he located her she was in the arms of Steve Harrington whispering something to him as her hand raised to his face. He was back inside with a drink in his hand before he could see Luna wipe the tears from Steve’s eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos appreciated.


End file.
